TWO centuries after his ancestor became a national hero, how did Richard Wellesley end up bailing out his benefit fraudster partner from the family trust fund?

Ever since the battle of Waterloo the Dukes of Wellington have followed a noble tradition of serving the nation with distinction.

The current holder of the title was, just like his famous ancestor, a highly decorated soldier.

Now in his late 90s the latest Duke, the eighth since the title was created in recognition of heroic exploits on foreign battlefields, also happens to be one of the country’s richest men. He has a reported fortune of more than £50million.

However this week the very different background of another of the legendary Iron Duke’s descendants emerged.

Richard Wellesley, whose greatgreat-great-grandfather Henry was the younger brother of the 1st Duke, shares a house with a benefits cheat.

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Wellington’s mother Anne

A court heard that over the course of a decade Paula Carton, the mother of two of his children, defrauded the taxpayer out of more than £100,000.

Although not implicated in the scam 39-year-old Mr Wellesley yesterday repaid the money to spare his lover from going to jail.

The aristocrat receives an annual payment from a trust fund set up for descendants of the 1st Duke. It provides an income of £38,000 a year and Richard relied on an advance so that he could make amends on behalf of the 49-year-old Carton.

The relationship between the 1st Duke’s great-great-great-great nephew and Carton is unconventional by any measure.

She is 10 years his senior and they became lovers when Wellesley was 17 years old. In addition to their two children, Cardiff Crown Court was told that she has another eight children from a failed marriage before she met Richard.

While living with Richard in a large detached house in South Wales she falsely claimed £108,000 in housing benefit and income support by pretending he was her landlord and she paid rent to him.

Council investigators became suspicious because bills were in his name at their address in the village of Abersychan, near Pontypool, and they had a joint bank account.

The court heard that after she was investigated by fraud officers Carton admitted: “He is a little more than a landlord.”

Because of Wellesley’s lineage and wealth she would not have been entitled to any of the money. In addition to the regular income from the trust fund the descendant of the Iron Duke also has a property portfolio of at least three houses.

The court heard that Carton had a difficult life after being abandoned by her mother to be raised in an Irish convent.

At 16 she married a man of 49 with whom she had an abusive relationship, eight children and two miscarriages.

She formed a relationship with Wellesley when she was living on a farm in Ireland owned by his mother.

In 1995 Wellesley began to study at Aberystwyth University and she and her children followed him to Wales.

While living with him she claimed she was a “lone parent living with 10 children”.

After leaving university Wellesley earned meagre wages working at a builders’ merchant and did not receive money from the trust fund until the death of his mother three years ago.

Carton, who struggled into court on a crutch, was said to be suffering from depression and is waiting for a back operation.

After the case one of her daughters, Nicola, said: “It has been a really difficult time for the family and it was really hard for my mum having to go up in front of the court like that. We don’t want to speak about the case any further.”

Neighbours said they had no idea they were living alongside a descendant of the famous Duke of Wellington.

One woman said: “You’d never think it – they are an odd lot.”

Wellesley is said to live an itinerant existence dividing his time between Ireland, where the 1st Duke had his roots in Dublin, and Wales.

Carton owes a debt of gratitude – and her freedom – to the 1st Duke because without the trust fund established in his name she would today be behind bars.

THE Iron Duke’s exploits against the French and the title it brought made his family wealthy. He became a national hero after ending the threat from Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and the nation was determined to show its gratitude.

Yet when he was a young man the future Duke’s parents had struggled to make ends meet.

His father died in debt aged 46.

Although the 1st Duke’s old rooms at Apsley House at Hyde Park Corner in London are now owned by English Heritage his direct descendants still live there.